MediaMatters: Dowd Flip-Flops - Gore Now Prescient On Several Issues

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Thu Mar-01-07 03:49 PM
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MediaMatters: Dowd Flip-Flops - Gore Now Prescient On Several Issues

Dowd now believes Gore "prescient" on several issues, despite previously belittling him

In her February 28 column, titled "Ozone Man Sequel" (subscription required), New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd described former Vice President Al Gore as the "man who was prescient on climate change, the Internet, terrorism and Iraq," and wrote that "t must be excruciating not only to lose a presidency you've won because the Supreme Court turned partisan and stopped the vote, but to then watch the madness of King George and Tricky Dick II as they misled their way into serial catastrophes." Dowd wondered who Gore must blame more for his defeat in the 2000 election: "Does he blame himself? Does he blame the voting machines? Ralph Nader? Robert Shrum? Naomi Wolf? How about Bush Inc. and Clinton Inc.?" Yet, as blogger Bob Somerby noted, Dowd omitted an obvious other potential target of blame: the media. Indeed, Dowd herself, while now praising Gore for being "prescient" on such issues, relentlessly mocked Gore during his 2000 presidential campaign and onward for what she described as Gore's "obsessions about global warming and the information highway." Dowd has also compared Gore to the "wackadoo wing of the Democratic Party" for his criticism of the Iraq war; and has repeatedly furthered numerous falsehoods about Gore, such as that Gore once claimed to have "invented the Internet;" and, as Somerby noted on his Daily Howler weblog, that feminist author Wolf advised Gore on his wardrobe and how to be an "alpha male."

* snip *

For instance:

* After President George W. Bush's April 2006 push to promote renewable energy, Dowd stated that Bush had made a "concession speech to Al Gore" but then added: "he president sounded a bit like a wild-eyed Ozone Man himself yesterday, extolling the virtues of alternative fuel derived from cooking grease, sugar, grass, wood chips, soybean oil and corn." (4/26/06)
* After attending the February 2002 World Economic Forum, Dowd wrote that her "whole body hurt" from the "chat about coalitions, commonalities and global climate crises." Dowd continued: "The confab -- overrun with charts, hand-held computers and technobabble -- was starting to feel like an evening with ... Al Gore." (2/3/02)
* In a 2001 column, Dowd described Gore as "the champion of Kyoto and author of a chicken-little polemic warning of 'an ecological Kristallnacht' and 'wasteland.'" (8/5/01)
* While complaining that the Bush administration has "reeled" the country "backwards so fast," Dowd acknowledged that she "used to think" Gore was "striving too geekily to be Millennial Man. The Palm Pilot on your belt. The Blackberry. The Earth-cam you dreamed of. Citing 'Futurama' as your favorite show. The obsessions about global warming and the information highway. Boldly choosing the first Jewish running mate. But now I'm going hungry for a shred of modernity." (6/1/01)
* While discussing Gore's consideration of installing a webcam in the Oval Office, should he become president, Dowd asserted: "I have zero desire to see President Gore round the clock, putting comely interns to sleep with charts and lectures on gaseous reduction." (10/19/00)
* In 1999, Dowd claimed that "Al Gore is so feminized and diversified and ecologically correct, he's practically lactating." (6/16/99)
* Writing about a family trip Gore took to Europe in 2001, Dowd asserted that Gore had "escape from his alpha-male coach" to "go off on a trek to Europe and grow a goofy-looking beard. Dowd continued, "ith his Hemingway growth and Heineken girth, all Mr. Gore needs is a pack of Gitanes and an earth-tone beret;" and concluded, "fter a lifetime in politics and eight years in the West Wing, the vice president spent the campaign trying to find himself and fine-tune his wardrobe's palette." (8/5/01)
* In October 2000, Dowd wrote about how then-presidential candidate Bush was "still milking the flap over Naomi Wolf's alpha-male advice to Mr. Gore, the spectacle of a woman instructing a man how to be a man." (10/25/00)
* Dowd also penned a column as though it were written by Gore, who said of himself: "Alpha Al, you the man. You got your mojo. You are looking goooood!" (8/23/00)
* Again writing as though she were Gore, Dowd wrote that "Day Two" of the 2000 Democratic National Convention would feature "Tipper play the drums, accompanied by Karenna and Naomi Wolf, in an all-girl band salute to me." (7/12/00)
* Dowd also stated that during the 2000 campaign, "he Democrats yearn to be manly" and referenced Gore's "alpha coaching." (7/9/00)
* In an October 1999 column Dowd wrote of an apparent exchange between Gore and herself about Gore's "new color palette." Dowd wrote: "He's in his casual uniform, a blue shirt to bring out his eyes, a heathery brown sweater, khakis and black cowboy boots. 'Tipper picks out my clothes,' he says quickly, before I have a chance to mention That Woman Naomi. Don't his beta earth tones undercut his alpha message?" (10/10/99)

more at http://mediamatters.org/items/200703010001